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Historians, history films and film makers at the end of the twentieth centuryBy the late 1970s film studies in America had became a significant part of highereducation and has continued to expand as an area of academic interest. 39 In a key wordsearch on the internet using the words 'Hollywood', 'history' and 'film,' 83% of catalogueentries at the University of California, Los Angeles, are dated 1980 and later. A similarsearch at two United Kingdom university libraries - Greenwich and University College,London - obtained comparable results of 87% and 96% respectively. These have beenincreasing each year.40Although a number of significant academic studies began to appear in the 1970s,41 filmstudies was 'convulsed by debates on theoretical issues' - on methodologies andinterpretations - until the mid-1980s and this delayed the debate on the value and place ofhistory films.42 Formal recognition was given, however, when the American HistoricalReview (AHR) used its December 1988 edition as a forum to debate the issues. Since thenthe AHR and the Journal of American History have included regular sections on historyfilms while the American Historical Association and the Organisation of AmericanHistorians have instituted an award for the best history film of the year. There are nowregular conferences sponsored by academic organisations devoted to film and history whilea positive interest by historians was demonstrated by the publication of Past Imperfect in1995.43Past Imperfect gave sixty-one prominent historians, journalists and other academics anopportunity to choose and review nearly one hundred historical films that touched on theirarea of expertise. The editorial by Mark Carnes was encouraging. Hollywood history, hesaid, Tilled irritating gaps.... polished dulling ambiguities' and 'sparkled in its lack ofmoral ambiguity and tedious complexity.' Movies inspired and entertained and oftentaught important truths about the human condition. Some films had even become historicaldocuments saying more about the era in which they were made than about the historicalrepresentation. Movies, he concluded, had a unique capacity for stimulating a dialogueabout the past and Past Imperfect was a reply to that dialogue.44 Historians were at lasttaking Hollywood seriously.13